Former Coventry RFC player Chris Millerchip owns the head lease of the Butts Park site and must give the go ahead before the land can be developed.

He previously insisted all parties involved in disputes with the football club’s owners must make a genuine attempt to settle their differences before any deal could be properly explored.

But almost one month after details of the proposed ground share were confirmed, Mr Millerchip told the Telegraph that CCFC owners Sisu had so far not come to the table for peace talks, making the chance of any deal at the Butts Park Arena unlikely.

He also said alternative options were being seriously explored, adding talks with other organisations had taken place and that he was hopeful a final decision about the future of the site could be made by the end of the year.

Speaking exclusively to the Telegraph, he said: “My position remains as it was. The important things are that we have talks to resolve all the differences in the city and the position of the rugby club is protected.

“Ongoing attempts are being made to engage people in talks, and it’s just Sisu who are saying they won’t engage.

“They at least have to make a bona fide attempt to resolve their differences and at least talk with the council, Wasps, Coventry Sports Foundation and everybody else. At the moment, we’re not making much progress on that.”

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Academy row

Coventry City have just two seasons left on their temporary deal to play at the Ricoh Arena and the Telegraph recently revealed that talks with landlords Wasps over a 20 to 25-year rental agreement had broken down. The Premiership rugby club has said it felt it couldn’t continue negotiations while there was the distraction of ongoing legal action by CCFC’s owners over the stadium.

And the Sky Blues has also entered a war of words with Alan Higgs Centre bosses Coventry Sports Foundation over the future of its Academy at the site.

Its stay there appears to be under threat from plans for Wasps to build a £7million training complex at the Allard Way venue and with the club’s short term agreement to use the facilities due to end in June 2017.

The football club says it has been trying to extend its stay there and recently said it was prepared to move its first team to the site. But CSF says it was forced to explore other options after previous repeated statements by the club about a desire to collocate its Academy and first team onto one site.

Asked how seriously he was taking CCFC’s ground share plans, Mr Millerchip said: “I think it’s something they are genuinely interested in. But if they are seriously interested in Butts Park they would be interested in a process of talks.

“How seriously can you take them when they are not willing to engage in talks?

“I have made very clear conditions, talks must take place and the rugby club must be protected. The first one has not been successful and there has been no attempt to fulfil it.”

King Henry VIII old boy Mr Millerchip, who is now based in New York, originally got involved with the rugby club in an attempt to protect its long-term future, which has twice looked in serious jeopardy since the sport went professional in 1995. He invested £50,000 into Coventry RFC in 2013 and took over the Butts Park lease in 2014.

Coventry RFC chairman Jon Sharp had been trying to buy that head lease from Mr Millerchip in order to clear the way for a possible ground share with CCFC, but that deal appears to have stalled.

Mr Millerchip said his vision for the site was one which left the rugby club’s playing side and charity elements self-sustainable and confirmed he was talking to a number of potential developers for the site in order to achieve that.

He said: “The land there is very under used and the club can’t survive forever on subsidies from Jon Sharp and I.

“There’s the potential there to improve the existing rugby facilities and we are speaking to a number of people.

“The Coventry City idea still remains a possibility, but it seems to me at the moment to be a relatively remote one.”

He also indicated that the prospect of Coventry City and the rugby club developing a 15,000 to 25,000 seater stadium at the site could have been over-hyped.

He said: “The whole Coventry City thing seems to have been given a high profile. We’re looking at other options, although they’re at a relatively early stage.

“I hope by the end of the calendar year we will have a very clear direction where we are going with The Butts.

“The thing is to protect the integrity of the site for the rugby club but look at other ways we can help fund the rugby club and our charities.

“But whatever we do will require the cooperation of the council as they are the freeholder of the land.”

Coventry City's new MD Chris Anderson at Ryton

Coventry City managing director Chris Anderson said: "We are not aware of the nature or extent of Mr Millerchip's communication with the football club's owners, and he has not contacted the football club about this issue.

"We also don't know why he would have, given that the proposed transfer of the head lease to the Butts Park Arena area would be between him and Mr Sharp / Coventry Rugby Club and would not involve the football club.

"Why he would therefore insist on the football club's owners being part of a wider discussion is unclear to us.

"As a fellow sporting organisation of long standing in the city, we support Coventry Rugby Club's plans to develop the Butts Park Arena and chart their own path toward a successful future."

A spokesman for Sisu said: "Any potential ground share at Butts Park, and any continuation of the Club’s academy at the Higgs Centre, are both CCFC challenges."